


The Truth is Out There

by shadowsfan, Vana



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alien Abduction, Alien probing, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Older Man/Younger Man, x-files au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-30
Updated: 2017-03-04
Packaged: 2018-08-28 00:58:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8424442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowsfan/pseuds/shadowsfan, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vana/pseuds/Vana
Summary: Stannis Baratheon and Selyse Florent are partners for the Westeros Bureau of Investigation, specifically assigned to unusual cases.  In the town of Grassy Vale, there have been reports of mysterious lights in the sky, dead cattle, and a creature that roams the cornfields.  The WBI is called in when a local farmer, Davos Seaworth claims he was abducted, possibly by aliens.





	1. Chapter 1

 

 

_An Unusual Case_

 

Stannis loosened his tie before pinning another yellow post-it note to the whiteboard on the wall of his cramped, basement office.  Why was it always so damned stuffy down here?  He could thank his brother Robert for that he supposed.  Robert was Director of the Westeros Bureau of Investigation, and it was his order that Stannis had been exiled to the windowless, subterranean room.  Robert felt that Stannis’ continued interest in cases involving citizens whom Robert called, _lunatics and freaks_ , was an embarrassment to the Bureau.  Among his colleagues, Stannis had earned the nickname, Spooky Baratheon, because of his vast library of files describing sightings of monsters and aliens.  Still, Robert had given him the job that allowed him the freedom to pursue his current lines of investigation so it was best not to complain.

 

Stannis studied the yellow fact tree that he had created, and tried to make sense of it.  Why so many sightings of fast moving lights in the night sky near the Red Mountains in Dorne over the past several years?  Did it have anything to do with the top secret military base in the area?  Some had suggested that they were conducting experiments on life forms not of this world.  There were tales told by the local elders of strange happenings long ago, of a glowing ship crashing in the desert during the last war.  All the talk had been dismissed by the Bureau as local legend, spread by crackpots with no facts to back it up.  His inquiries had been met with nothing but denials at every level of government, but he knew there was something to the rumors ─ he knew it in his bones.  The truth was out there.  He just had to find proof.  He ran a hand through his thinning hair and tried to clear his mind.

 

Stannis heard the clicking of heels on stone signaling that someone was approaching from the hallway.  His lips twitched into a half-smile.  There was only one thing that would bring someone all the way down here to see him.

 

“We’ve been assigned a new case.”

 

Stannis turned toward the door peering over the tops of his glasses at his partner, Selyse Florent.  With her dark suit and hair pulled back into a severe bun, she looked every bit the WBI agent.  Stannis supposed he looked much the same, known for his perpetual scowl and serious demeanor.  The fact that they were so much alike had not served them well as lovers, but they made a great investigative team.  It had been Robert’s attempt at a joke, pairing them together as agents a year after their breakup, but Stannis felt that it had worked for the best.  He wasn’t so certain that Selyse felt the same.

 

“Good morning to you too, Selyse,” Stannis deadpanned.  “What sort of an assignment is it?”

 

“Another _X-file_ , which is the name I believe was coined specifically to describe cases assigned to the two of us ─ a case so ridiculous that no other agent would touch it.  What did you imagine it was, something important such as a bank robbery or homicide?”

 

Stannis knew that Selyse didn’t relish working with him.  Her assignment was little more than a glorified baby-sitting job.  Robert wanted her to watch over him and make sure he didn’t garner any unwanted publicity with his investigations that would tarnish the Bureau.  It was her punishment for being a female agent in a traditionally male field.  She was happy to have the experience but resented it all the same.  Stannis thought it best not to antagonize her and so ignored her snippy tone.

 

“At least it will get us out of the office.  Where is it and what is it about?”

 

“The Reach,” Selyse replied, rolling her eyes.  “Some small town in the middle of farm country called, Grassy Vale.  We fly into Highgarden and drive from there.  Go home and pack your bag and I’ll pick you up at your place.  I’ll fill you in on the way.”

 

~~~

 

_A Mysterious Abduction_

 

The sun was low in the sky, the tasseled corn stalks casting long, thin shadows as they passed endless fields on the road to Grassy Vale.

 

“How many dead cows are we talking about?” Stannis asked, glancing at Selyse as he drove.  Selyse tapped the screen of her tablet and scrolled through a few pages of notes.

 

“Ten.  All found lying near a pond.”

 

“Were there any tests done to determine cause of death?”

 

“Only an exam performed by a local vet.  Nothing definitive.  Could have been poison, or a virus.  The pond water checked out clean according to the report.  No samples were preserved from the cattle for further testing ─ I asked. ”

 

“That’s odd don’t you think?”

 

Selyse gave him a look that he knew all too well.  “Don’t jump to conclusions, Stannis.  The incompetence of small town officials is a more logical explanation than a government conspiracy.  Besides, that isn’t the reason we were called.  We need to focus on the alleged kidnapping and sightings of strange lights in the area.”

 

“I’ll reserve judgement until we have more facts,” he conceded as the fields gave way to the main street leading into Grassy Vale.  The pavement was damp from a recent rain, the drab buildings momentarily cleansed of their dust and grime.  The sheriff’s office was easy to spot in such a small town, located on the main square across from the courthouse.  Stannis parked the car and switched off the engine.

 

“Tell me about this fellow, Seaworth, who claims to have been kidnapped.  Do we have any background information on him?”

 

“Not much.  He’s a local farmer, a long-time resident.  He was jailed briefly ten years ago for trespassing, along with some other locals  ─ some sort of protest against Lannister Corp buying up land for oil and gas exploration.  That’s about it.”

 

“He was found wandering, disoriented, on a road not too far from the pond where the cattle died.  What does he say happened?”

 

“According the sheriff, after his initial statement that he was abducted by persons unknown, he’s no longer talking,” Selyse answered, unbuckling her seatbelt.  “Presuming he’s still in custody, I suggest that we interview him ourselves.”

 

They crossed the street and entered the one-story brick building.  A stocky man in a tan uniform, wearing a sheriff’s badge, was talking to a younger man sitting at a desk.  Their conversation stopped abruptly when Stannis and Selyse entered.  The sheriff looked them over with an unmistakable expression of disdain on his face.

 

“Sheriff Tarly?” Selyse asked.  Not waiting for an answer, she introduced them.  “I’m Agent Florent.  We spoke on the phone.  This is Agent Baratheon.  We’re here to interview Mr. Seaworth.  What can you tell us about the events of last night?”

 

Tarly sniffed in Selyse’s direction and then promptly ignored her.  He shifted the styrofoam cup of coffee he was holding to his left hand and offered his right to Stannis.

 

“Agent Baratheon, I’m Randyll Tarly, the sheriff here in Grassy Vale, and this is Deputy Tyrell.  I can’t imagine what about this incident would interest the WBI.  Davos got drunk off his ass is all.  Deputy found him walking on the road naked and brought him back here to sleep it off.”

 

“Does Mr. Seaworth have a history of public drunkenness?”  Stannis inquired.

 

“No, but doesn’t surprise me,” Tarly answered.  “He lost his wife and son two years ago in a grain silo collapse.  Terrible tragedy.  Hasn’t been the same since.”

 

“Yet this is the first time anything like this has happened?” Selyse asked.

 

Tarly studied her with disapproving eyes.  “I didn’t know they let women become agents now.  How many qualified men did you beat out to get this job?”

 

“Sheriff Tarly,” Stannis snapped.  “Please answer the question.”

 

Tarly shifted his attention back to Stannis.  “I told you all I know.  I don’t have time to answer any more of your questions.  Seaworth is in the back if you want to see him.  He should be good and sober by now.  You can tell him that he’s free to go.”

 

Stannis realized they weren’t going to get any further information out of this man.  Not for the first time he thought it would be useful if either he or his partner had more developed social skills.

 

“Thank you for your time,” Stannis said, nodding curtly.  

 

Neither officer made a move to escort them, so they brushed past Tarly and made their way in the direction Tarly had indicated.  At the end of a short corridor they found two cells with metal bars, one was empty.  In the other, a greying, bearded man, dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit sat on a cot.  His muscled arms and weathered face told of long days working outdoors.  He stared into space, appearing not to notice their presence at first.  

 

“Mr. Seaworth?”

 

When Stannis spoke, the older man came out of his trance and their eyes met.  The intensity of his gaze was unsettling.  Stannis felt as if Seaworth was a drowning man begging him with his eyes to throw a lifeline.   Stannis shook off the feeling and realizing that the door was unlocked, entered the cell followed closely by Selyse.

 

“I’m Agent Baratheon and this is Agent Florent.  We’re with the WBI and we’ve come to ask you a few questions.”  They displayed their credentials, but Seaworth barely glanced at them.

 

“The sheriff seems to think you were drinking last night and suffered a walking blackout.  How many drinks did you have?” Selyse began, tapping the screen on her phone.  “I should caution you that I’m recording this interview.”

 

“I was as sober as a church deacon,” he answered softly.  “Although I don’t expect anyone to believe me.”

 

“Why is that?” Stannis asked.

 

“My story is so strange I don’t believe it myself.” Seaworth shook his head slowly and then added more emphatically, “But it happened ─ I know it did!”

 

“What happened?  Start from the beginning,” Selyse instructed.

 

Davos’ eyes took on that vacant look again, although Stannis noticed a subtle emotion there as well ─ fear perhaps?

 

“I can’t remember it all, but not because I was drunk.  It’s almost as if someone took an eraser to my brain.”  Davos shook his head again, emitting a mirthless chuckle.  “I know it sounds crazy.”

 

“Never mind how it sounds.  Try and tell us what you remember,” Stannis coaxed, attempting to mask the frustration in his tone.  Patience had never been one of his strengths.  Oddly, it wasn’t his impatience with Seaworth that frustrated him, but the lack of facts that hindered his ability to help the man.  For some reason he sensed Seaworth was an honest man who needed his assistance and Stannis felt compelled to come to his aide.  “Begin with what you were doing last evening before sundown. Do you recall?”

 

Seaworth nodded.  “The weather forecast was for rain.  I had started the wheat harvest and wasn’t quite finished before sunset, but I had to get it done before the morning showers, so I was on the tractor after dark.  Between the moon and the headlights I could manage the last bit.  I was nearly done when something ran in front of me.  I couldn’t stop.  There was a thud and I knew I’d hit it.  I stopped the tractor and jumped off right away.”

 

“You said _something_.  It wasn’t person?  Was it an animal?”  Selyse asked.

 

“I didn’t know what it was.  It happened so fast.  There is a legend around here ─ mostly kids telling ghost stories ─ of a creature in the corn.  Heard talk about it for years.  Something like bigfoot or the yeti.  I’ve never paid it any attention, but thought it might be a bear.  They wander into the valley from the Rainwood sometimes.  I had it in my head that’s what it was.”

 

“Was it?” Stannis asked when Seaworth paused maddeningly.

 

“I don’t know.  It was dark and I didn’t have a flashlight.  I saw what looked like blood but I can’t be sure.  Whatever it was, I may have injured it, but it was gone.  I saw a trail where the wheat was mashed down, leading toward the corn field, so I followed it.  It lead into the corn so I walked in there a few yards.  Have you ever been in a cornfield at night?”

 

“Me? No.” Stannis answered.

 

“It’s disorienting.  The air doesn’t move and you lose your sense of direction right away.  People have gotten lost in a cornfield for hours in broad daylight.  I wasn’t about to get lost in there at night.  I had made up my mind to turn back when the light found me.”

 

“The light found you?  I don’t understand,” Selyse interjected.  “Do you mean someone with a flashlight?”

 

“No,” Davos replied, closing his eyes.  Stannis wasn’t sure if he was trying to recall or block the memory.  Seaworth’s shoulders tensed, his fingers curling into fists against his thighs.

 

“It was a bright light from above, blinding, and there was a hum ─ low and constant ─ like a thousand bees. I can’t remember!  I don’t know─ “ he bit off, his body shaking.  “I was taken!”

 

“Taken where?” Selyse asked sharply.  “By whom?”

 

“I don’t know!” Davos shouted.

 

Stannis shook his head and shot Selyse a look that said no more.

 

“It’s all right, Mr. Seaworth.  You’re safe now,” Stannis said soothingly.  “What is the next thing that you _do_ remember?”

 

Davos took a deep breath and released it slowly.  He met Stannis’ gaze and again Stannis was struck by the sincerity transmitted by his eyes.  No matter how strange his story, this man truly believed what he was saying.  Stannis found himself wanting to believe him too.

 

“I was walking along the road outside of town.  I was naked, but I don’t know what happened to my clothes.  I felt sore, as if I’d been beaten, and I smelled something burning, although I had no bruises or burn marks.  I still had my watch but it had stopped.”  He held up his wrist to show them.  The watch was an old Timex which still had to be wound. Stannis was interested to learn the story behind its ownership but decided to save that question for another time.   “I’ve reset it now, but it had stopped at the exact time I saw the light.”

 

“How do you know?” Stannis asked softly.

 

“It was nearly dawn, it was just starting to rain but my watch said 9:00 PM.  I tried to flag down a passing car but they didn’t stop.  I suppose they called the cops because the next thing I knew Deputy Tyrell was putting me in the back of the patrol car.  I tried to tell them I wasn’t drunk but they wouldn’t believe me.”

 

“Did they administer a BAC?” Selyse asked.  When Davos looked confused she clarified, “A breathalyzer test for alcohol?”

 

“No.  They stuck me in this cell and told me to sleep it off.”

 

“So, as far as you know, no one has gone back to the fields to investigate your story?” Stannis inquired.

 

“Not that I know of,” Davos answered.

 

“Would you take us there now?”  Observing Seaworth’s hesitation, he added.  “We won’t let anything happen to you.  You can remain in the car if you’d like.  If we are to find out what happened, we’ll need your cooperation, Mr. Seaworth.”

 

Seaworth nodded.  “Call me Davos.  Okay, I’ll show you.”

 

~~~

 

_The Creature in the Cornfield_

 

The tractor was right where Davos had told them it would be.  He’d left it idling and it was now out of gas, the headlights dark.  Stannis shone his flashlight beam on the ground in front of it.  

 

“The rains would have washed away any blood,” Selyse explained, searching the surrounding area with her flashlight.  She stopped when she found a patch of flattened wheat.  “Fortunately the trail survived.”

 

Stannis followed Selyse, flashlight trained on the faint trail.  Davos had refused to leave the car but was able to provide them with precise directions.  Stannis experienced a twinge of guilt.  He could see on the man’s face what it had cost him to come back here.  Whatever happened to him had been terrifying.  Imagining those expressive brown eyes pleading with him for help, for belief, stirred a protective urge deep within Stannis’ chest.   He quickly pushed it aside.  He was obligated to maintain a professional detachment, or he would be of no use to anyone.

 

“We’ve reached the cornfield.  There isn’t much chance of following a trail in there,” Selyse remarked.  “I suggest we split up to maximize our coverage.  Follow the position of the stars to maintain your orientation.  Text if you find anything.”

 

Stannis nodded, setting off in the northerly direction while Selyse moved in the opposite.  Soon he realized the truth of what Davos had said.  One immediately became disoriented among the tall stalks.  It was difficult to push his way through the rows, the only course was to walk in the furrows between.  The sharp leaves occasionally bit into the exposed skin of his hands and face, stinging like paper cuts.  The air was close and heavy, claustrophobic, causing him to sweat in spite of the cool temperature.   He’d been at it for nearly half an hour, finding nothing, when he heard something moving about two rows away.  He stopped, listening.  Had it been the wind?  No, the air was still.  There it was again, the rustle of leaves.  He took a step toward the sound, trying to remain silent, but his shoulders bumping against the stalks caused the leaves to move, making a noise like the rattle of cheap window blinds.  Whatever, or whoever it was began running.  Stannis heard the crash of something heavy moving away from him through the corn and took off after it.  The stalks, nearly as sturdy as bamboo, attempted to bar his way, bruising his arms and shoulders as he fought through the rows.  The going was slow, and he changed direction down a furrow, thinking to make up time by running between the rows and then circling back.  

 

Stannis was covered with sweat and the sticky juice from bruised ears of corn when he burst free of the stalks and found himself beside a holding pond.  The area around it was clear, the ground muddy, and he saw no sign of the thing he had been pursuing.  He surveyed the area while catching his breath.  Was this the same pond where the dead cows had been found?  He reached into his jacket for his phone with the intention of texting Selyse when suddenly the ground seemed to move beneath him, knocking him off his feet.  The flashlight fell from his grasp, landing with a plop in the mud as he rolled on his side trying to figure out what was happening.  There was a sound that filled the air around him, a hum, like electricity vibrating through a powerful transformer.  He cringed as it grew in intensity, covering his ears with his hands as his eardrums throbbed painfully.  A light filled the sky, unnaturally bright, so that he was forced to close his eyes, and just as suddenly it was gone.  Stannis couldn’t tell from which direction it had originated or disappeared.  It was simply there and then gone, as was the sound.  The air was once again still and an uneasy silence surrounded him, until he heard the faint cry in the distance ─ a cross between a wail and a sob, “No, no, noooo!”

 

Davos.  Stannis clambered to his feet and began to run again.

 

~~~

 

_A Reasonable Explanation_

 

“Fracking?” Stannis stared at Selyse incredulously.  It was the following afternoon and they were driving  to the hospital to check on Davos Seaworth.  “I don’t understand why that would explain everything that has happened.  Where is your proof?”

 

“The background on Seaworth ─ the arrest for the protest against Lannister Corp got me thinking about their oil and gas exploration in the area.  I did some digging ─ no pun intended ─ and there is a lawsuit pending against them for their recent fracking operation.”  

 

Selyse pulled into the crowded parking lot, her eyes searching for a space as she circled, but Stannis noted the look of satisfaction on her face.  

 

“Go on,” he prodded, not convinced.

 

“Fracking is the high pressure, hydraulic drilling for oil and natural gas within layers of rock,” Selyse explained as if that were all the information Stannis needed.

 

She parked the car and turned to face him, peering over the rims of her glasses like a lecturer.  

 

“Fracking can release pockets of gases in the ground, such as methane.  A concentrated burst of methane issuing from the pond while the cattle were drinking could have proved fatal and left no mark.  When the gas dissipated, the water would have returned to normal.  It’s been documented before with fish kills.  The release of gases underground could also lead to pressure changes, such as the one that knocked you off your feet last night.  Lannister Corp was drilling last night.  I checked.”

 

“An interesting theory, but still not definitive proof,” Stannis argued.  “What about the lights and the sounds?  What about that thing in the corn?”

 

“The most reasonable explanation is that the lights and sounds were from an airplane, perhaps a military jet.  Grassy Vale is on the flight path between Storm’s End and Highgarden.  There have been a few scattered reports of strange lights in the sky in this area over the years, and all have been explained away by aircraft.  I checked that too.  The thing in the corn was most likely an animal ─ a bear perhaps.  Seaworth suggested it himself and you never got a good look at it.”

 

“What I saw was no airplane,” Stannis protested.  “And that doesn’t explain what happened to Davos.  I refuse to accept that.  I want to interview more farmers in the area.  There must be a witness, someone who saw something that could provide a clue.”

 

“Stannis,” Selyse said carefully.  “I’ve spoken to Robert and he’s satisfied.  The case is closed.  Mr. Seaworth could be a substance abuser, or have PTSD brought about by the death of his wife and son, or a combination.  There is no evidence that he was abducted by anyone.  He’s getting a psych evaluation today, but no matter the outcome our work here is done.  I’ve booked us on the 6:00 PM flight back to Kings Landing.”

 

Stannis’s jaw tightened as he ground his teeth, biting back the frustration that would have resulted in a rude reply.  Selyse focused her attention on her phone, giving him time to compose himself.  He knew she had his back, she wasn’t trying to thwart his investigation.   She was trying to keep him from losing his job by trying to prove his crackpot theories about aliens and government conspiracies.  There was a time to fight and this wasn’t it.  Knowing that her intentions were good, didn’t make the bitter medicine any easier to swallow.

 

“I want to see him again.  To tell him in person that I’m leaving and to make sure he’s receiving proper care,” Stannis said, sounding defensive even to his own ears.

 

“Of course,” Selyse replied.  “I’ll wait in the cafeteria.”

 

On the elevator ride to the fourth floor psychiatric ward, Stannis’ thoughts centered on the previous night.  They’d found Davos in the car where they’d left him, curled in the fetal position, naked and shaking.  Davos had been incoherent when Stannis had tried to calm him.

 

_“I was taken again,” he sobbed.  “Can’t you smell it burning?”_

 

_“You’re all right, Davos,”_ Stannis had said, wrapping his suit jacket around Seaworth’s shoulders.  A brief search by Selyse turned up the prison jumpsuit Davos had been wearing in a nearby field, singe marks similar to cigarette burns were observed throughout the fabric.   _“You’re still in the car.  No one has taken you.”_

 

_“My watch has stopped.”_  Davos held out his wrist.  Stannis noted the watch read the time  roughly ten minutes ago, when he had seen the light.   

 

Though Stannis and Selyse tried to question him further, Davos would say no more, his eyes lost to that vacant look he’d had in the jail cell.

 

The elevator doors slid open and Stannis made his way to the reception desk.  Davos was in a room at the end of the corridor.  He still had that far away expression on his face when Stannis entered.  His hands had been bound to the bed by leather restraints.

 

“Hello Davos,” Stannis said, standing near the bed.

 

When those brown eyes fixed upon him, pleased recognition lighting Davos’ face like the dawn, Stannis couldn’t ignore the swell of excitement that warmed his chest.  He tried to write it off as concern for Davos’ welfare, but he knew that it was more complicated than that.  He could hear Selyse’s voice in his head warning him not to get too attached.

 

“Are these necessary?” Davos asked, tugging briefly against the straps.

 

“Not in my opinion,” Stannis answered, unbuckling the restraints.  Doctors be damned.  “Unless you’re a danger to someone, or to yourself you don’t have to stay here.  How do you feel?”

 

Davos offered a fleeting smile.  “I’ve been better.”  

 

Stannis helped him lower the rail and Davos swung his bare legs over the side, sitting on the edge of the bed as Stannis moved to sit beside him.  He noticed faint red marks on Davos’ back, visible through the opening of his hospital gown.

 

“How did you get those?” Stannis asked, startled.

 

Davos appeared alarmed by the question and glanced around as if to make certain they were alone.

 

“If I tell you, promise you won’t tell another soul.  Not a doctor, not anyone.”

 

Stannis frowned.  What was Davos hiding?  For the first time he wondered if Selyse was right and Davos suffered from some form of mental illness.

 

“I promise.”

 

“I remember more than I told you,” Davos admitted, averting his eyes.  “Whatever took me wasn’t human.  I’ve never felt so much pain.  It’s all I remember ─ the light and the humming and the pain.  It was as if someone had stuck a red hot poker inside me.  It was burning me from the inside out!”  His voice broke and he started trembling.  Stannis reached for his hand and Davos’ grip was like a steel trap closing around his fingers.  “They violated me, Stannis! I couldn’t stop it!  I couldn’t resist!”

 

Hearing Davos use his given name for the first time caused Stannis’ heart to miss a beat.  It sounded so natural, as if they had always been Stannis and Davos to each other.

 

“They think I’m crazy.  The doctors say I’ve repressed memories of abuse, but I was never abused before.  I just want someone to believe me!”  His voice faded into a guttural sob as Davos’ head drooped dejectedly.

 

Without thinking, Stannis placed his arm around the older man’s shoulders and pulled him into a hug.  Davos tensed at first and then sighed as he relaxed against Stannis’ chest, his face buried in his neck.

 

“I believe you, Davos.”

 

“Don’t let them take me again.  Please don’t let them.”

 

“I won’t.”

 

Stannis knew he had to tell Davos that he was leaving soon, but he was content to hold him a little longer.  He was leaving but the investigation was far from over.  He owed it to Davos and others like him; others who had suffered and had their stories dismissed as the products of deranged minds, to continue to search for answers.  The truth was out there, he just had to find it.

  


  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stannis returns to Grassy Vale alone, drawn by an intense need to see Davos Seaworth again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written by Vana. All the UST and eventual sex that the first chapter was building up to is here! Lots of h/c, lots of foreplay, not much about aliens because that's shadowsfan's department and will hopefully be addressed next ;)

“I believe you, Davos.” 

Sometimes, those words — the memory of them, the sound of them, the shape of the mouth that spoke them — were the only thing that kept Davos going. The days faded away, punctuated with panic attacks, underlined in ink-black depression. The nights passed in a haze of medication, but his memories would always wake him before a grey dawn. The hospital walls were painted a sickly green and Davos’ knuckles, clenched around the restraints, began to match the pale, anemic hue. Weeks piled upon weeks; doctors gave way to new doctors; orders flew about him like leaves in a fall wind — like dried cornsilk in the night, rustling. Coming closer. _Oh Gods._  

And then _I believe you_ , from the lips of the paranormal investigator Stannis Baratheon as he held Davos shivering on the cool, sterile sheets of the hospital bed. Against all evidence, Stannis believed him, and Davos had never trusted anything like he trusted those words. They were all he had.

 

**

“Whose authority? It’s under not only WBI orders, but it’s under _my_ orders,” Stannis scowled, staring down the young clerk, whose will was weakening visibly with every word. “You will release Mr. Seaworth within the day … make that within the hour. His presence is _required_ in a criminal investigation involving Lannister Corp. Will that be enough details for you?” 

Stannis glared over his glasses. The clerk was almost broken now, and that was fine — the fewer questions, the better. Selyse had taught him the art of presence and command well over the years, he mused with what could have been, to the keen observer, a wry smile. 

Sam, the hospital worker behind the desk, saw only a smirk. He thought of finding his supervisor, but suddenly an image of Davos Seaworth, whom he had seen at intake, flashed into his mind. _Horribly traumatized, but not insane_ , Sam remembered thinking. After that the usual dress parade of patients had driven Seaworth’s sad face out of his mind, but now … between the vehemence of Stannis Baratheon of the Westeros Bureau of Investigation and the vague, uneasy feeling that Seaworth was in completely the wrong place, Sam decided to act on his own. He straightened his body up in his chair and picked up the desk phone.

“Tormund,” he said into the receiver. “Your patient in 35, Davos? Yes … no, not that one. The quieter, older one. He’s to be released today into the custody of an agent from the WBI.” Sam could have smirked himself. He knew Tormund’s shady past and that the mention of the Westeros Bureau of Investigation would make him hop to. 

He wasn’t wrong. Almost before Baratheon could find a seat and get out his laptop, the burly ginger-bearded nurse appeared with Davos Seaworth, who was the picture of confusion until he saw Stannis Baratheon. Then his sunken, sad eyes lit up like it was Christmas. _Ah,_ Sam said to himself, intercepting the glance between Davos and the agent. And _oho_ , Tormund just as clearly said to himself, watching the hungry way Stannis’ eyes swept over the older man. Sam and Tormund exchanged a look. There’d be plenty to talk about on break tonight: meanwhile, Stannis picked up Davos’ beaten-up backpack, slung it over his shoulder with authority, and led the freed man out.

 

**

 

Stannis could no more help the rush of blood that burned up his neck and cheeks when he saw Davos than he could help breathing. To hide his flustered state, he retreated into silence as he walked Davos to his car. 

“Tormund said you needed me for the investigation?” Davos finally said. His voice sounded hoarse from lack of use.

“Yes — well, no. That’s what I told the hospital.”

“But you don’t?”

“Not exactly.” Stannis popped the trunk of his car and tossed the khaki backpack inside. 

“No!” shouted Davos, startling Stannis out of his hard-won self-possession. “I— I’m sorry. I need that,” he said, “up here, with me.” 

Stannis looked a question at him. Davos was trembling. 

“It’s got important stuff in it … I just need it.” 

Stannis retrieved the pack and handed it carefully to Davos. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Put it wherever you like.”

There was a strange look of relief on the older man’s face, as if he couldn’t believe that someone would take him at his word and respect a simple request. _What have they done to you?_ he wanted to ask. But he didn’t know whether he meant the workers in the mental hospital or … or someone else.

Stannis drove in silence. The midafternoon glare was so bright he had to shade his eyes, even with his driving sunglasses on. It was hard to imagine this fertile place as anything but a rural idyll, until he looked sidelong at Davos Seaworth and remembered what he had described. The stillness of the cornfield at night; the sound of humming from above, the lights, and then — _I was taken,_ he remembered Davos telling him and Selyse, his voice breaking like a thin sheet of ice. 

“Look,” Stannis said abruptly. “I had to tell Selyse — Agent Florent — that I was taking a vacation. She doesn’t know I’m down here with you. She’s assigned the Lannister fracking violations to someone else. … Davos,” he went on after a long pause, “this isn’t exactly about work.” 

Davos was quiet. But he laid his hand briefly on Stannis’ arm where it rested on the gear shift of the rental car. “Whatever it’s about, I’m grateful to you,” he said at length. “Being in there was only making it worse.”

Twenty minutes later Stannis pulled in at an extended stay hotel. “I got two rooms,” he said, steadfastly not looking at Davos’ face, pretending to be concentrating on parking. “I just wanted you to be safe — to not have to go back to your house alone …”

“Thank you,” Davos said. He watched Stannis until Stannis was forced to look back. The sincerity in his voice and his eyes made Stannis’ heart skip a beat. Or maybe two or three beats.  _Don’t die right here in the parking lot,_ he thought. _At least get inside._

“I really appreciate this,” the other man went on. “You can’t know what it’s been like. Knowing you were gone …”

Stannis’ heart pounded dangerously again. “I’m here now,” he said, his tone soft in the shade of the hulking hotel. “I came back for you.”

 

**

 

Davos napped in his air-conditioned room for three hours before Stannis woke him reluctantly with a knock on the door. “I thought you might want to eat,” he said apologetically.

“Yes,” Davos said, running his hand through his hair, looking disoriented. “I should.” 

Dinner was a late, subdued affair in the hotel’s restaurant. Davos ordered a burger and fries and finished it absentmindedly, and Stannis picked at a Caesar salad, fretting to himself. Maybe this wasn’t a very good idea after all. Maybe he should just pay up on Davos’ hotel room for the week and fly back home. He didn’t even, unless he looked too closely at it, know why he was here in the first place.

Davos insisted on digging into his backpack for a wad of cash to pay the bill. “I can’t let you buy all this, with the hotel,” he said. “You said you weren’t here for work, so don’t tell me you can expense it.” A slight grin flashed across his face, and Stannis was lost again.

“Fine,” he managed, trying for a matching smile. “But I’ll buy you a beer at the bar if you’re—“

“No,” Davos cut him off, “I — I can’t.”

Stannis looked at him, letdown growing and blooming in the pit of his stomach. It wasn't the drink he was going to miss, but the company. “All right.” 

“I’ll just go to bed,” he said. “And I’ll see you in the morning. I just need sleep.” Davos indeed looked unbearably exhausted. 

Stannis forced down his own disappointment. After all, he wanted Davos to rest, to recover, to be safe.

Their rooms were adjoining, with a locked security door between them. 

“Good night,” Stannis said, already planning out the work he would do before bed. “Just get some rest. If you need anything, knock five times on this door. Like this,” he rapped _shave-and-a-haircut._ “I’ll be up awhile.” 

Davos nodded. Stannis threw himself on the king bed — preposterous, to get a king for both rooms — but he justified it in Davos’ case by thinking of the tiny, thin hospital bed he had been forced to sleep on. For himself, well, there was really no excuse at all. 

Stannis stretched out and opened his laptop. Instead of the research he had planned to do, he found himself, once again, watching online videos of UFO sightings — the lights glowing through the mist, the voiceover breathlessly narrating, the strange staticky sound that grew ever louder.

“Stannis!” he heard through the door. He jumped; he must have dozed off. It was one in the morning. A frantic knocking was coming through the security door. It sounded like a rabbit tapping its hind foot in alarm. It was not the agreed-upon five knocks. 

“Davos?” he asked, making his way to the door, fumbling for the deadbolt. “What's wrong?”

“Let me in,” Davos panted, “let me in now. I can’t stay here.”

Stannis awakened fully on the instant. He yanked the door open and Davos nearly collapsed against him. 

“What is it? What’s happened?” He held Davos’ face in both his hands, looked into his eyes. His breath was free of the scent of alcohol and his eyes were dilated with fear, but not with chemicals.

“I heard them coming again,” Davos whispered, eyes wide, backing up against the closed door. “I heard the humming, that quiet roar. It was when it came to take me. It’s coming again.”

“Did you see anything? The lights?”

“No,” Davos said. “Just the sound this time. I thought it might be the air conditioner. But it wasn’t. It was that same sound as before.”

“Oh, hell,” Stannis said, almost to himself. “Davos, that’s my fault. I was watching these videos … come here, let me show you.” 

He led Davos to the bed, where the laptop was still open, its battery drained to almost nothing. “Look, is this what you heard?” He pressed replay on the last clip and felt Davos tense up next to him.

“I don’t know. I think so. Maybe,” Davos said. Stannis could tell he was trying to get control of himself. “Someone got this on tape?”

“It’s hard to say whether it’s real or a hoax,” Stannis explained. “Some people set these situations up for publicity. They want to get on TV, or _Coast to Coast AM_ , or they want a tabloid to come pay them for their story. Then other people, it actually probably happened,” he said, “but it’s usually not the ones who tape it.”  

“I don’t want to watch this anymore,” Davos said, clicking the laptop closed. 

Stannis leaned down to set the machine on the floor. “I should never have even started watching those. I just can’t stop thinking about it. Selyse says I’m fixated on all of this.”

“The fact that you even _consider_ that some of us may not be drunk, crazy, or lying … that’s so important.” Davos had not moved, but his eyes followed Stannis as he resettled himself on the bed. “You don’t know what it meant to me when you said you believed me. I knew Agent Florent didn’t and I don’t blame her. But you did.”

“I did. I do,” Stannis said. He steadied himself with a breath, then slowly, slowly — like someone approaching a scared animal — moved ever so slightly closer to Davos. His breath caught with the closeness. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“If I do, can I stay here with you?” Davos turned his wide eyes on Stannis again, and there seemed to be something more there than just the need to confess, to relive. “I can sleep on the couch, or the floor…”

“I don’t want you to sleep on the couch _or_ the floor.” Stannis put his arm around Davos’ shoulders, protectively, covetously. He let his lips find the crook of Davos’ neck and rest there. “I want you to stay right here.”

“Gods,” whispered Davos, “the idea of this kept me _alive_ in there.”

Stannis shuddered, running his hand greedily down Davos’ back. 

“Tell me,” he said.

 

**

 

Talking about it made Davos light-headed, and he steadied himself again and again with Stannis’ ready warmth, his strong arms around him. Talking about it was both easier and harder with his head swimming with desire. The haze of lust kept Davos at a remove from the nightmarish reality that even now he could not be sure wasn’t a bad dream. _You’ve lost your wife, you’ve lost your son_ , the doctors said, kindly, but dismissively. _You got something bad in your drink, or your food. It was only a hallucination._

“And what they did … I never told your partner. I could hardly tell you.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I do have to,” Davos said, gripping Stannis’ hand like a lifeline. “If I tell you, maybe it won’t come back, maybe remembering it won’t hurt me. All I remember is I was wearing my clothes, and then I wasn’t. I don’t remember anyone undressing me. They were on and then all of a sudden none of them were on. I was flung across the ground. Like a rag doll. I had the idea I wasn’t supposed to be awake for this but for some reason I was.

“Their hands, or what was maybe, something like their hands — they touched me, and they burned me. I didn’t feel it on my skin until later. It was like something poison was in the marrow of my bones, in my blood. Something poisonous and creeping that was going to kill me.”

Davos felt Stannis’ arms tighten around him and he leaned gratefully into it. He took another deep breath. He was going to have the strength to go on. 

“Marya … my … my wife … she was raped in college. She told me what it was like — like someone putting a knife into you, into your private parts, with no preparation whatsoever. Just like they were cutting into a steak, she said. She said she felt like meat.” 

“Was that how it was,” Stannis said. Davos could feel him holding his breath.

“No,” he said. “I remember thinking, _this is what it was like for Marya._ But it wasn’t. It was like how I said before — something was wrong from _inside._ It didn’t feel like, well, like penetration.” He blushed, suddenly, realizing what he had just admitted to Stannis. But Stannis seemed to have no reaction. “It wasn’t like that. It was … I was helpless, because I couldn’t move, because they had already paralyzed and burned me — burned me from the inside out. It was as if they had painlessly slipped something inside me somehow. And only when it was there did it start to burn. And then,” Davos began to shake, he couldn’t help it, he remembered the crawling terror that he was going to die without dying, to suffer at the hands of something worse than a disease, something no one understood or would ever understand. And that his aggressors did not, themselves, know what they were doing, because Davos was as foreign to them as they were to him.

“The fear was worse than the pain,” Davos said, “but the pain was bad enough. I can’t forget it, Stannis,” he said, holding back tears of shame. “I can’t. I can’t.”

“I know,” said Stannis. “I know you can’t.” He placed both his hands on Davos’ back, running them up and down in a gentle massage. Davos’ tremors eased the slightest amount. 

“What do you think happened to me?” Davos leaned into Stannis, calm starting to pervade him in spite of himself.

“I don’t know.” Stannis’ voice was quiet and rough against the side of Davos’ neck. “They talk about probes, the only way they know to gather information about us. I think it’s not meant to cause you pain, but they don’t understand how we work. It might be that something like this,” he illustrated with a sweeping, exquisite stroke up Davos’ back that made his skin erupt into goosebumps all over, “is just as bad for them as what they did to you.”

“Then I’m glad I’m not them,” Davos said, turning, watching Stannis’ blue eyes darken into black. “Gods, Stannis. Kiss me. Please, just … do that for me.” 

“I’ll do anything,” Stannis breathed, “all you ever have to do is ask.”

 

**

 

Stannis had never been so careful in his life as when he undressed Davos, fingertips prickling with anticipation. He laid possessive kisses on the faint marks he could still see on Davos’ skin, one after the other, wondering what constellations were mapped out there and if he would ever come to know them. He let Davos take the lead, blissfully surrendering his usually tight control. He let Davos tell him what he wanted, what they both wanted.

And Davos was so polite, so painfully courteous: “put your mouth on me, Stannis, please, I would love that,” as if it wasn’t what Stannis had wanted to do for weeks or hours. 

Stannis had to hold himself back from the rush of wanting to make Davos climax as soon as possible, to wash away all the fear and pain in the first moments — “Now stop,” Davos commanded, the veneer of self-control cracking. “It’s too fast … fuck, it’s too much.”

“I… all right,” Stannis said, nonsensically. His head was spinning, the blood roaring in his ears. “We can stop.” 

“No,” interrupted Davos. “I don’t want to stop. I want,” and he trailed off, sliding his hands down Stannis’ thighs. Stannis’ cock, heavy and hard, ached with need. Davos wrapped a warm hand around it and Stannis nearly came right then. His eyes fluttered closed; he moaned wordlessly into Davos’ hair, just that one touch undoing him almost entirely.

“This is what I want to do,” Davos murmured. Stannis convulsed as Davos took him into his mouth, gently but firmly running his tongue down the most sensitive spots. He felt Davos suck on one of his own fingers and inhaled sharply before relaxing again. How could he not trust Davos? They would never hurt each other — it was out of the realm of possibility. He relaxed against Davos’ wet, exploring finger, while Davos’ mouth worked him into a sort of hypnotized frenzy. When the finger opened him, he arched back against it, the slight stretching sting only making him want more. 

Then Davos stopped, releasing Stannis from his mouth. Stannis barely held back a whimper. “What is it?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “I mean, I do know. I just don’t know what you’re going to think.”

Stannis gathered himself with a mighty effort. “About what?”

Davos looked away, then back at Stannis. A strange, tiny smile played about his lips. “All I can think about is how much I want you to fuck me. I want you to … gods, I want you to so badly.”

Stannis blinked in surprise. “Are you sure?”

“You said all I had to do was ask,” Davos reminded him. “I’m asking.” He kissed Stannis on the mouth, lush and insistent. Stannis groaned against Davos’ lips: there was no choice. His body and his mind both wanted to do as bid.

Davos disentangled himself, re-emerged from the bathroom with lotion. “If I had planned better,” Stannis said ruefully, “but, well, the most I was hoping for was that I could go to sleep holding you.”

“You will do that too,” Davos assured him. Now that he had told Stannis what he wanted, Davos was back in complete control. It was intoxicating. Stannis let him warm the lotion in his hands before slicking it over his still-hard cock. 

“Can I help?” Stannis said breathlessly, “how slow should I go?”

“Very,” Davos said, “as slow as you can.”

Stannis, wet with lotion, slid first one finger inside Davos and then two, caressing, comforting, listening to Davos’ breathing become shallower and faster. “You tell me if there’s anything,” Stannis said, “that you don’t like, or that you do like, or…”

“All of it,” Davos rasped, “I like all of it. Do it now,” he said, almost forgetting to add, “please.”

Stannis nibbled on Davos’ shoulder, surprising him, and smiled. “Since you ask nicely,” he said, trailing off as he eased himself inside with a long, slow, smooth stroke. He held Davos’ hips against him and took Davos’ straining cock in his hand.

“Yes,” Davos breathed, “oh, fuck, yes. Stannis.” They remained there for a long while, not moving, just experiencing, floating in each other’s orbit. It was left to Davos to start moving. Davos thrust himself back against Stannis, forcing him deeper, while Stannis fucked Davos’ cock with his hand in rhythm. 

Davos bit back a cry once, and Stannis froze. “Are you all right?”

“No,” came the strangled answer. Stannis moved to back away, but Davos gripped the back of his thigh, holding him in place. “Don’t go. Talk to me, Stannis. Tell me I’m not crazy.”

Stannis held himself still, feeling Davos’ strong fingers leaving indents on the back of his leg that would be there for at least a few days. He rested his forehead against Davos’ shoulder. Through the pounding of his pulse, he spoke softly, ignoring the building pressure in his groin, focusing on holding Davos through … whatever he was going through.

“You’re _not_ crazy,” he told Davos. “I’ve been hearing that I’m nuts for years, too, for believing — for wanting to believe. The truth, what happened, it’s probably too much for a lot of people.”

“But not for you?” 

“Not for me, no. I want to know, Davos. I’ve wanted to know all my life.”

Davos let out a long sigh that ended in a groan as Stannis leaned to kiss his shoulder. The sound was enough to set Stannis’ hips twitching. 

“You still believe me,” Davos said, almost inaudibly. “I’m okay now.” His grip on Stannis’ thigh loosed, became a teasing thing. The two men fell silent as their bodies began to move again, together.

Stannis heard himself taking deep, heavy breaths, not willing to let himself go, holding his pleasure and his peak tight inside him. He kept his hand around Davos’ cock, knuckles finding the pulse of it, and his arm tight around Davos’ chest. He wanted — no, needed — Davos to come first, and by the erratic movements and guttural moans he knew it would happen and he relished it, waited for it, silently begged for it. 

In the end, Davos’ release was Stannis’ own. Davos cried out in pleasure, and Stannis followed, his climax coursing through him in shuddering, hot waves. 

They lay together, panting and sweaty, sticky, speechless.

Then Stannis had to ask.

“Did I hurt you?”

“Yes, some,” Davos said. Stannis winced, but Davos went on, taking his hand. “I wanted you to. I wanted _that_ to be the pain I remembered, not some awful, monstrous thing. I wanted it to be you. And Stannis, it was so good. It was.”

“I…” Stannis did not know what to say. He blushed painfully and averted his eyes.

“I don’t mean just that part,” Davos said, once again forcing Stannis to look at him just with the power of his own gaze. “I mean all of it. You said I’d be safe with you. But you’ll have to be patient with me. … I know I can’t forget it. I have to live with it.”

“You do,” Stannis agreed. “But _I’m_ here now.” There was something about Davos — the fact that he felt like they were the only two people in the world who believed in these fascinating and terrifying things no one else could understand — that made him want to keep Davos with him, under his protection. 

Davos excused himself again and came back with a warm, wet washcloth. Stannis sighed, sleepily, while Davos cleaned him off. Had anything ever felt so right as being with this man? 

He smiled in spite of himself when Davos curled up next to him, fitting into his arms as though he had always been there. There was going to be more to be done, so much healing, so much wondering and worrying. But for now, they were safe and they were at peace.

**Author's Note:**

> This AU was loosely inspired by the episode of the X-files entitled, Duane Barry. It's an episode (in 2 parts) that was very well done and one I've never forgotten.


End file.
